Hypothetically Speaking, Say Bosh Does Leave Next Summer

Let's play pretend for a moment and discuss options you'd like to see if Bosh does decide to leave the Raptors next summer?

What would you suggest Colangelo do to back fill the void left with Bosh gone? Does he look for another PF or do we move Bargnani to PF and look for a Centre instead? Keep in mind we have Jose, Bargnani, Hedo, DeMar locked up for awhile longer.

So what options would you explore if you were in Colangelo's shoes and needed to fill a huge void left with Bosh heading south?

(1) The Raptors have $48 million in guaranteed salaries without Bosh on the books. That means they'll have MLE type money available to them in free agency should he leave. In other words, not many options to improve the team that summer, at least not through free agency.

The Raptors have about $40 million in salaries the next summer. Get rid of Jarrett Jack and hopefully the cap begins to rise again and the Raptors could be looking at $15-20 million in cap space. An opportunity to add an All-Star quality player or better.

(2) I would dump Bargnani regardless of Bosh's situation ... but if Bosh left I'd also be working overtime to get rid of Hedo Turkoglu or Jose Calderon, likely Hedo. Add that $20 million in further cap space or an extra $10 million + an All-Star talent from a Bargnani trade.

So $25-30 million in 2011 + a borderline to legitimate All-Star talent in Bargnani's place + Calderon ... to build around. You'd also have a high lottery pick from the 2011 draft (because the team would be lousy) to put alongside DeRozan and possibly a low 2010 lottery pick. A very nice core/opportunity to begin building around.

(3) I don't think Bargnani can play the power forward position. I don't think he can defend the position. It would lessen the value of his one defensive strength (post defense) and increase the burden of his other defensive weaknesses (defending perimeter, defending quickness, defending the elbows + mid-post, defending pick and rolls). It would decrease his value to the team.